My iMac running ML crashed and I can not boot it up successfully. I have been able to boot up in a recovery mode but I am not sure I know what to do there. I was thinking about trying to reinstall the OS but I am afraid that it will erase my hard drive. Does anyone know if it would keep my files or would wipe everything out... I know I know, shame on me for not backing my stuff up... Any help would be appreciated....
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iMac crashed, need advice on recovery
- Thread starter KriNor
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I did try that and the actual hard drive seemed okay, however, when i select Macintosh HD the description below says not mounted. Wonder if that's a problem. Tried to run Repair but it did nothing, so now running Verify option on Macintosh HD. Not sure what to do next...
"I know I know, shame on me for not backing my stuff up... Any help would be appreciated...."
If you want to never be in this position again, spend $100 and do this:
1. Buy one of these gadgets:
http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Dock...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B003UI62AG
2. Buy a "bare" hard drive (I'd suggest a 2.5" "laptop-type" drive, perhaps 1tb capacity)
3. Download CarbonCopyCloner from
http://www.bombich.com/download.html
Then:
a. Put the bare drive into the dock
b. Initialize it with Disk Utility
c. Launch CCC
d. Create a "clone" by selecting your internal drive (on the left) and the docked drive (on the right)
Do this, and you will have a FULLY BOOTABLE BACKUP for "moments of extreme need" -- just like you're having right now.
It won't cost much, it's very easy to do (even I could do it!), and once done -- you'll be protected against problems like you're currently experiencing.
Additional thoughts:
If the hard drive won't even show up in Disk Utility, it could have a hardware failure.
Weren't some iMacs covered by an Apple recall for defective hard drives?
If so, is yours one of them?
Again, this may not help with getting the data back, but it may at least get you a new hard drive out of it.
Even if that's the case, you STILL need to be backed up as I detailed above...
If you want to never be in this position again, spend $100 and do this:
1. Buy one of these gadgets:
http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Dock...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B003UI62AG
2. Buy a "bare" hard drive (I'd suggest a 2.5" "laptop-type" drive, perhaps 1tb capacity)
3. Download CarbonCopyCloner from
http://www.bombich.com/download.html
Then:
a. Put the bare drive into the dock
b. Initialize it with Disk Utility
c. Launch CCC
d. Create a "clone" by selecting your internal drive (on the left) and the docked drive (on the right)
Do this, and you will have a FULLY BOOTABLE BACKUP for "moments of extreme need" -- just like you're having right now.
It won't cost much, it's very easy to do (even I could do it!), and once done -- you'll be protected against problems like you're currently experiencing.
Additional thoughts:
If the hard drive won't even show up in Disk Utility, it could have a hardware failure.
Weren't some iMacs covered by an Apple recall for defective hard drives?
If so, is yours one of them?
Again, this may not help with getting the data back, but it may at least get you a new hard drive out of it.
Even if that's the case, you STILL need to be backed up as I detailed above...
Reinstalling the OS will delete your files. I would try any means to clone the drive... so at least you have some type of copy in case all fails.
If you cannot clone the drive... I would attach an external drive with OSX installed on it and boot in target mode. Then see if you can access your broken HDD.
Failing that, I would first replace the broken drive it with a new drive, and install OSX.
Then attach the HDD and try some inexpensive data recovery tools. They usually have free trials (so you can see if it works at all)... and then they are cheap... less than $100.
I'll assume that your data is not terribly valuable (else, it would have been backed up)... but if I am wrong, you can send your drive to a data recovery service. I have never used such a service, but I undersand they are quite expensive... maybe over $1K.
Either using the inexpensive data recovery tools or an external service... your data will probably come back all jumbled up. You might spend days/weeks/months getting it all back in place again... depending on how complex your data is.
/Jim
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You know this forum runs a plugin that is stripping out your plugabltechno-20 Amazon Affiliate link, so you can just stop spamming with this post over and over. You won't be making any money with it.
"You know this forum runs a plugin that is stripping out your plugabltechno-20 Amazon Affiliate link, so you can just stop spamming with this post over and over. You won't be making any money with it."
I make no money from it, nor from anything else I do on the internet.
All my advice is given gratis -- I receive NOTHING for it in return.
And, by the way, that link may not be working for you, but I just clicked on that link in your reply #6 (immediately above this), and it worked perfectly for me.
What are you doing wrong?
I make no money from it, nor from anything else I do on the internet.
All my advice is given gratis -- I receive NOTHING for it in return.
And, by the way, that link may not be working for you, but I just clicked on that link in your reply #6 (immediately above this), and it worked perfectly for me.
What are you doing wrong?
That is not true and you know it.
You have an Amazon Affiliate account called "plugabltechno" and you are inserting that after the tag= portion of the Amazon links you post here. Purchases made from Amazon Affiliate links result in you getting a fee from Amazon.
Here is the fee structure you are getting paid.
Below is the code for the link you posted. Your Amazon Affiliate tag "plugabltechno" is right there in the link.
Code:
http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Docking-Station-LucidPort-chipset/dp/B003UI62AG?SubscriptionId=AKIAJ27KPV45VTL2XA5Q&tag=[B]plugabltechno-20[/B]&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B003UI62AGSo please let's not pretend you don't know what you are doing. You are doing the same thing on other forums also, including the Apple support forums.
And, by the way, that link may not be working for you, but I just clicked on that link in your reply #6 (immediately above this), and it worked perfectly for me.
What are you doing wrong?
You are missing my point.
I did not say the link you posted did not work. What I am saying is this site runs a plugin that is stripping out your Amazon Affiliate code (plugabltechno-20) and replacing it with their own (macrumors-20). So you spamming Amazon Affiliate links here is not going to make you any money.
Thank you all for your advice. At the end of the day it was the hard drive. I have purchased a new hard drive and installed it last night and it's working just fine.
After my initial posts I ended up taking my iMac to the Apple store where they ran a diagnostic app off of their network which displayed each component with green check mark or red one. The hard drive came back with the red cross sign. Wish this utility would be available to anyone at home, so we would not need to go to the store to get confirmation of what went bad.
Now I need to figure out how to get my files off of the old HD. I have ordered cables, hope the drive is readable. I need to get into habit of backing up my stuff
Any advise on what is the best (easiest) way of doing backups?
After my initial posts I ended up taking my iMac to the Apple store where they ran a diagnostic app off of their network which displayed each component with green check mark or red one. The hard drive came back with the red cross sign. Wish this utility would be available to anyone at home, so we would not need to go to the store to get confirmation of what went bad.
Now I need to figure out how to get my files off of the old HD. I have ordered cables, hope the drive is readable. I need to get into habit of backing up my stuff
Any advise on what is the best (easiest) way of doing backups?
"So please let's not pretend you don't know what you are doing. You are doing the same thing on other forums also, including the Apple support forums."
I have no plugins, and earn no money from the net.
I just post and offer suggestions based on my own experience.
The links in the posts are simply URLs cut and pasted from the sites involved.
Here is the link I use for the plugable.com dock at amazon.com (I have removed the "http://www." so the forum software will not convert it to a clickable link:
amazon.com/Plugable-Docking-Station-LucidPort-chipset/dp/B003UI62AG?SubscriptionId=AKIAJ27KPV45VTL2XA5Q&tag=plugabltechno-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B003UI62AG
What you see above is copied directly from the item's page at amazon.com. I didn't "insert" any code -- it's already there.
The product is from a company called "plugable.com". Perhaps _they_ have some kind of code in there that I don't know about. I found the amazon URL above by clicking on a link at plugable's product page for the item involved. I then just copied the URL in Safari and saved it as a bookmark.
I noticed that it's also possible to go to amazon's home page, search using "plugable.com" and "usb dock" and get this URL instead:
http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Dock...&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=plugable.com+usb3+dock
I'll guess that this one _does not_ have the plugin you are referring to. Apparently, there are different ways to reach the same page on amazon.
If this latter URL is "clean", I'll use that one in the future instead.
But again, I didn't knowingly "insert" any plugin on my own.
It was just there -- perhaps some kind of arrangement between plugable (which seems to market their products exclusively on amazon) and amazon.com.
I have no interest in either amazon.com or plugable.com other than being a paying (and satisfied) customer. When a product works for me, I pass that knowledge along.
I have no plugins, and earn no money from the net.
I just post and offer suggestions based on my own experience.
The links in the posts are simply URLs cut and pasted from the sites involved.
Here is the link I use for the plugable.com dock at amazon.com (I have removed the "http://www." so the forum software will not convert it to a clickable link:
amazon.com/Plugable-Docking-Station-LucidPort-chipset/dp/B003UI62AG?SubscriptionId=AKIAJ27KPV45VTL2XA5Q&tag=plugabltechno-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B003UI62AG
What you see above is copied directly from the item's page at amazon.com. I didn't "insert" any code -- it's already there.
The product is from a company called "plugable.com". Perhaps _they_ have some kind of code in there that I don't know about. I found the amazon URL above by clicking on a link at plugable's product page for the item involved. I then just copied the URL in Safari and saved it as a bookmark.
I noticed that it's also possible to go to amazon's home page, search using "plugable.com" and "usb dock" and get this URL instead:
http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Dock...&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=plugable.com+usb3+dock
I'll guess that this one _does not_ have the plugin you are referring to. Apparently, there are different ways to reach the same page on amazon.
If this latter URL is "clean", I'll use that one in the future instead.
But again, I didn't knowingly "insert" any plugin on my own.
It was just there -- perhaps some kind of arrangement between plugable (which seems to market their products exclusively on amazon) and amazon.com.
I have no interest in either amazon.com or plugable.com other than being a paying (and satisfied) customer. When a product works for me, I pass that knowledge along.
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Ah... that explains it. Yes, plugable has inserted that tag in the link so they get a "commission" from Amazon for any sales resulting from that link. You should post the second link (without the plugable tag) on any websites. This will avoid you being wrongfully accused (as I have done here) of pimping for Plugable.
I am sorry I jumped on you over this.
Please accept my apology.